Sitemap - 2023 - The Rabbi Schneeweiss Substack

Vayechi: Don’t Stop Working Or Else You’ll Die (Especially If You’re Not Jewish)

Vayigash: May [the Word of] God Be With You (Rough Draft)

Does Insomnia Even Matter?

Mikeitz: Self-Deprivation in Solidarity With Others Who Are Suffering

Chanukah 5784: Maimonian Doughnuts and My Current Understanding of Minhag

Asking for Miracles on Chanukah: Updated for 2023, in Light of the War with Hamas

Vayeishev: The Consequences of Tattling and Misguided Rebuke

Vayishlach: When Should the Righteous Bow Before the Wicked?

Vayeitzei: Hashem’s Love-Hate Relationship With Stone Monuments

Vayeitzei: Leah’s Thanksgiving Revolution

Deathbed Moments of U.S. Presidents, Japanese Monks, Chazal, Victims of the October 7th Massacre, and My Rebbi zt"l

God of Time or Dog Eating Its Own Vomit? (a "The Stoic Jew Podcast" Crossover Post)

God of Time or Dog Eating Its Own Vomit? (a "Rabbi Schneeweiss Substack" Crossover Episode)

ADDENDUM: The Virgin Rivka - an Explanation of the Wild Drash

Chayei Sarah: The Virgin Rivka - Plain Pshat and Wild Drash

I Hereby Renounce My Personal Stance on Zionism

Matt Schneeweiss, the God of Time (Seneca - On the Shortness of Life)

Vayeira: A Lesson in Tznius from Lote's Daughters

Lech Lecha: Avraham’s Origin Story and the Torah’s Silence

Noach: Searching for Meaning in the Post-Diluvian Genealogy

Bereishis/Noah - Why God Hates Hamas (חמס and حماس)

Thoughts on the Role of Jewish Educators at a Time of War

The Beneficial Effects of Torah Wine on Metaphysical Heart Rate Recovery

Yom ha'Kippurim Round-up: 5775 - 5784

Shabbos Shuvah 5784: How to Do Teshuvah, Little by Little

Erev Rosh ha'Shanah 5784: Metaphysical Triage and My Complex Relationship With Selichos

A Stoic Approach to the Aseres Ymei Teshuvah (Aurelius - Meditations 5:11)

Aurelius and Rav Soloveitchik on the Problem with Vidui (Aurelius - Meditations 10.30)

Nitzavim: What Would Teshuvah Look Like If It Were Easy?

Ki Tavo: Lone Learning vs. Group Learning

Some Thoughts on Rabbi Moskowitz's Unveiling

How My First Week Went, Thanks in Part to Epictetus (Enchiridion 1, 7, 17, 21)

Stoic Jew Thoughts on the First Day at a New School

Ki Teitzei: Ramban - On Cruelty to Animals

Two MAJOR Professional/Life Updates for the 2023-2024 Academic Year

Shoftim: Trusting Hashem in Poverty and Jurisprudence

A Judean Ransacking of Roman Stoicism

How to Take a Gratitude Bath

Re’eh: The Meaning of Mixing Milk and Meat for a Modern Maimonidean

The Burning of Lahaina, Lyons, and Yerushalayim (Seneca - Letter #91: On the Lesson to be Drawn From the Burning of Lyons)

Know Thy (Sick) Self: Three Lessons from Recent Sick Days

Two Years (Plus) of Gratitude, 300 (Plus) Episodes, and Smashing Through Podcaster's Block (Plus)

Eikev: When Avodah Zarah Works (and Why)

Vaeschanan: Mezuzah – Caffeine for the Soul

The Sin of Columbus, Yehoyakim, and American Jewry

Devarim: The Idolatry of Showing Favoritism in Judgment

No Excuses in Talmud Torah: Ralbag’s Conclusion to Sefer Bamidbar

Freddie Mercury, Shadal, and the Crisis of Human Finitude

Freddie Mercury, Shadal, and the Crisis of Human Finitude

My Babylonian Zionism (and Why It Keeps Me in Far Rockaway)

Pinchas: The Biological Kohen (and Why I Identify as a Levi)

17th of Tammuz 5783: Which Tamid Ceased? (Part 1: Questions)

Personal (and Quasi-Political) Musings on the Fourth of July in Hawaii

Become the Best by Accepting that You Aren’t

Chukas: Ultra-Pure Cave Babies, Taylor Swift, and Enriched Uranium

On Why I Value 18Forty and the Orthodox Conundrum Podcasts

Octopuses, MDMA, and the Ecstasy of Torah

Korach: To Guard and Revere the Mikdash

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Shelach: That Time the Letter Yod Pleaded Before Hashem

Behaalosecha: The Shechinah Isn't a Dog Person

Behaalosecha: Moshe's View of Miracles

The Rabbi Schneeweiss Substack Update: Summer 2023

Naso: Confessing to an Omnipotent God

Bamidbar: Moshe's Non-Biological Sons

My Eulogy for Rabbi Moskowitz zt"l (5/30/22)

TSJ Interlude: “Where Have You Been?” Secret Episode, Instagram, and More!

Bamidbar: The Terminal Bachelorhood of Nadav and Avihu

Behar: The Prohibition to Free a Canaanite Slave

Bechukosai: Why are Women Worth Less than Men?

Emor: Why Judaism Punishes Converts

Emor: Does Hashem Hate Unibrows?

Kedoshim: Defining Rechilus (Gossip)

Tazria: Rambam’s Explanation for Why Milah is Done on the Eighth Day

Shemini: Why Can’t We Eat Bugs?

Vows to Hashem for Salvation and Gratitude (Seneca - Letters #73, 31)

Jewish Pedagogy: On Asking Stupid Questions

Memento Mori and True Human Empathy at the Seder

Pesach During the Holocaust (Aurelius – Meditations 4:49,8)

Avadim Hayinu: Would We Still Be Slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt?

Arbaah Banim: The Alternate Version of the Wise and Simple Sons

Maaseh b’Rebbi Eliezer: Abravanel’s Framing of Insomnia on Pesach Night

Tzav: Korban Todah – Thanking God with a Chametz and Matzah Party

Vayikra: Shadal's View of Korbanos

Musings on the Fact that There is No Article This Week

Recap and Update on My Relation to Meditation (Epictetus – Enchiridion 20; Aurelius – Meditations 4:3; Seneca – Letter #2)

Vayakhel: The Meaning of the Mirror Donation

Blaming My Insomnia on Satan (Aurelius - Meditations 5:20)

My Eulogy for Popo

My Eulogy for Popo

Ki Tisa: Is Shabbos a Day of Simchah?

Megilas Esther: How Esther Stayed Religious

Purim, Providence, and 600 Days of Gratitude (Epictetus – Enchiridion 5,8,20; Discourses 1:6)

Mishpatim: The Sanctuary-Altar Sanctuary (or Mizbeach as Refuge for Killers)

Mishpatim: Does Hashem Reward Good Dogs?

Three Models of Grieving: Aurelius, Epictetus, and Rambam (Epictetus - Enchiridion 3)

Spectral Clergy, Living Torah, and My Izzet Grieving Process

Thoughts on the Seventh Morning

Thoughts on Yesterday’s Shivah Call in Detroit

My Eulogy for Adira Koffsky z"l (2004-2023)

Beshalach: Was Miriam a Prophetess?

Preparing to Grieve for Popo, My 98-Year-Old Grandmother (Seneca – Letters #23,26,101, On the Shortness of Life, Consolation of Marcia 10:4)

Bo: The Jewish Lunar Calendar as Anti-Egyptian Polemic

Shemos: Dasan and Aviram – to Blame or Not to Blame?

Reflections on My 39th Birthday, New Years 2023, and 2nd Semester (Seneca – Letter #83)

Vayechi: The Wolf as an Allegory for the Shechinah

Dan l’Chaf Zechus: a Practical Stoic Technique for Judging Someone Favorably (Epictetus – Enchiridion 5)